Chapter 80

Once the group safely floated across the chasm of lava and magma, they continued on their journey by foot for another hour or so.

With even more corpses littering the path, Jax knew that wherever this path was taking them, there would be a tough battle ahead.

Since the canyon was so hot, the group was constantly sweating and as such, they stopped often to rehydrate and rest up so that they could conserve their strength. After all, if they met whatever killed so many pokemons while being exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, death was the only outcome waiting for them.

Another hour passed by and the tunnel became almost too unbearably hot. The group no longer saw any corpses and the minimap indicated that they had discovered four out of the five percent missing terrain left to complete the quest.

"Brother, wait. I hear the sound of fighting up ahead. We should proceed cautiously."

"OUUU! A BATTLE! All this walking is boring! I want to rip something apart!"

"M-maybe we should just turn back, J-Jax. Y-you don't really need to complete the map n-now, do you?"

"Mhm. I don't, but there's only one percent left. We might as well try to explore it and if things become too dangerous, it won't be too late to turn back, then."

As the group slowly walked ahead, they came to a huge cavern comparable to the Empire's capital, Alcatrax! With flowing lava and magma like the previous cave, the inside of the cavern felt like the inside of a furnace. The air was so hot that the vibrating molecules in the air caused small bursts of flames here and there.

And in the center of all this madness was a sight that made Jax's heart thump with madness.

Thump…Thump…

'TEAM ROCKET! What are they doing here!? So this is where they were when they headed south from the Empire!'

Looking at the people dressed in black, Jax couldn't contain his boil anger. He thought that they had chased his mom here bringing his hopes up but upon looking closer, he saw that they were surrounding a pokemon, one he knew all too well!

'Heatran! Are they trying to capture it? Why? Wait, I can ask them later, for now, I have to save it! Whatever they want to use it for, the reason can't be good.'

"Vioarr, Circle 1! Teritus, Circle 2! Nemsus, Circle 3! And Lancelot, Circle 4!"

Following their trainer's orders, all the pokemons sprang into action!

All four pokemon casted their own [Protect (M)+Endure (M)] combination while casting their own debuff and buff skills. Vioarr casted Leer (M) and spread out a his [Venom Drench (M)+Toxic Spikes (M)] combination. He also casted Focus Energy (4) and Helping Hand (3) to boost his and his siblings attack power. Using Taunt (1), he stopped the enemies from casting Status-category moves and then followed it up with a [Double Team (1)+Substitute (M)] combination.

Tertius used his own [Protect (M)+Endure (M)] combination followed by an Iron Defense (M) to boost his defense even further. Casting consecutive Scary Faces (3), it was able to slow the unsuspecting pokemons and trainers down. It finished up its preparations with a Substitute (4) and got ready for the long fight ahead.

Nemsus might be shy but when it came to protecting her family, she was the most outspoken of them all. Casting her own [Protect (M)+Endure (M)] combination, she boosted her crit rate with a Focus Energy (M) and further strengthened her attack power with a [Nasty Plot (M)+Work Up (4) combination. The best defense was offense! Although she didn't have as many protective moves like Vioarr and Teritus, she made up for it with overwhelming force! Kill the enemy before they can kill you!

Although it hasn't been long since Lancelot joined the little family, embodying the spirit of a loyal knight, he made sure to try his best to protect his new family as well. With a [Protect (2)+Endure (2)] combination, Lancelot ensured his family's protection with a Quick Guard (4). After making sure that no harm could come to his older siblings, Lancelot upped his damage potential with a Swords Dance (1) before splitting off and sneaking up on the enemies.

Using telepathy to make sure the enemies couldn't hear them, the team of five coordinated their next course of plans. From what Jax had observed with his eyes and after checking the minimap, there was about 30 Team Rocket grunts in the cavern. He didn't know how many pokemons they had since this was the real world and they weren't limited to only six, Jax made sure to constantly look at the minimap to see if anyone or anything else was sneaking up on them.

"Guys, no matter what, prioritize your safety above all else! As much as I want to save the Heatran, your wellbeing matters to me a lot more! With that being said, its time to hunt!"

With their trainer's blessing, the four pokemons fanned out to different parts of the cave biding their time while the enemies were still clueless about their existence. They were so focused on Heatran that they didn't even notice the giant purple lizard sneaking up on them!

BOOM!

With an Earthquake (3), Vioarr effectively broke the land everyone was standing on causing five of the grunts to fall into the lava below!

"What!?"

Turning around, the grunts finally noticed that they had some uninvited guests! With the enemy finally aware of them, the battle had officially begun!